The Rising
by Zubeneschamali
Summary: Ten post-"Lucifer Rising" drabbles in a variety of flavors. Because you can never have too many versions of "what happened next?" while you're waiting for the new season to start. COMPLETE.
1. Sky of Blackness and Sorrow

Title: The Rising  
Author: Zubeneschamali  
Rating: R (language, violence)  
Warnings: character death in one or two drabbles  
Summary: Ten post-"Lucifer Rising" drabbles in a variety of flavors. Because you can never have too many versions of "what happened next?" while you're waiting for the new season to start.

Disclaimer: Not mine, just having fun.

A/N: It's like a mini-advent calendar: one drabble a day until the new season starts! Some are immediately post-LR, some are set farther in the future, but all are spoiler-free and all are proper drabbles, 100 words on the dot. The title is from Bruce Springsteen's beautiful song of the same name, and the chapter titles are from the lyrics, taken as a self-imposed series of prompts.

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**Sky of blackness and sorrow**

"He's coming."

You couldn't move if you wanted to. You have to bear witness, bear the weight of what you've done.

The light grows brighter, and something niggles your mind. Something's wrong (_no shit_), but you can't—

"Sam! Shut your eyes!"

No, you have to be able to see what's coming, you—

"He's still an angel! Shut your eyes!"

You flinch. It should be your punishment: to live in darkness, cut off from everyone you've doomed through your own blindness.

_No._ That's too selfish. You deserve to see it all happen.

But then you see Him.

And it's too late.


	2. Sky of Love

Disclaimer and author's notes are in Chapter 1.

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**Sky of love**

There was no faith left; Zachariah had ripped away the last of it with his dramatic, too-early reveal.

There was no hope left; the light pouring forth from the pit at their feet had blasted it all away.

But there was love. There were his fingers reaching for Sam's jacket, and the tug on his clothing as Sam grabbed back just as hard, and there was the broken apology from Sam's trembling lips matching his heartfelt one left on Sam's voicemail.

There was Sam, who'd _always_ been his brother and always would be.

_But the greatest of these is love._


	3. Sky of Tears

Disclaimer and author's notes are in the first chapter.

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**Sky of tears**

Sam's eyes remained dry.

He'd cried after Jessica and Madison died, and they weren't truly his fault.

Now he'd betrayed his own brother—and the rest of the world for good measure—and he couldn't weep.

Even Dean had forsaken him, telling him he was a monster, and surely any minute now he would draw his Colt and give Sam what he deserved, but he wasn't shedding a tear.

Then distant thunder rumbled and rain started to fall on the convent's ruins. That figured. The heavens were finally stepping up, but only to cry for him.

Too little, too late.


	4. Sky of Glory and Sadness

Disclaimer and author's notes are in the first chapter.

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**Sky of glory and sadness**

"Bobby would have loved to see this."

It's the most beautiful sunset they've ever seen, glorious colors blazing, a breeze wafting away the battlefield stench. A rainbow shimmers over gold-tinged clouds like a second _never again_, a promise of safety from future visitations of ultimate evil.

"I get the feeling he's seeing it from…somewhere." Sam points upwards.

"Dude, that's so…" Dean wrinkles his nose. "Family Circus."

Sam punches his shoulder.

"Hey, Bobby's not the fluffy wings and a harp type."

"I didn't say that." Sam shrugs. "Just—I feel like he's here."

Dean's eyes crinkle. "He'd be proud, Sammy."


	5. Sky of Mercy

Disclaimer and author's notes are in the first chapter.

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**Sky of mercy**

"We will show you the same mercy you have shown us, Sam Winchester," the voice growls.

His whole body is on fire, nerves arcing with sharp electricity. "I didn't know," he pleads.

"That demon spawn like you could tear an angel from its vessel? Unlikely."

"He was…gonna kill Dean," Sam chokes out.

"Save your excuses. You have gone beyond redemption." The pain ratchets higher, and Sam knows he's going to die.

Suddenly there's a blinding light and something is pulling him away, hard and fast.

"I gotcha, Sammy."

Dean's calloused fingers grasping his are the only salvation he needs.


	6. Sky of Fear

Disclaimer and author's notes are in the first chapter.

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**Sky of fear**

Dean has never known fear like he does in this moment.

A year on Death Row, thirty years of torture in the Pit, and still he's never been so afraid.

Here, with a cloud of hell-spawned light circling around Sam, seeking a way in, Sam's eyes wide and fearful as his demon-marked blood calls to its source.

Dean's grip tightens on his weapon, steeling himself to keep a promise he never wanted to make.

Then the light swirls upwards and out the shattered windows into the night.

Relief-weakened knees deposit him hard on the ground as he drops Ruby's knife.


	7. Sky of Memory and Shadow

Disclaimer and author's notes are in the first chapter.

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**Sky of memory and shadow**

The Light-Bringer strode across the convent floor, shadows following in his wake, hissing Sam's name.

It was his own personal Rising of the Witnesses.

He remembered them all, starting with Cindy McClellan and stretching back over the months. Their blood was in his veins, first thick and sweet on his tongue, then bitter as ashes once he knew it was for nothing.

When his eyes met Lucifer's, he knew there was only one way to honor their memory.

He reached inside himself, deeper than his tainted blood.

And for an instant, he blazed even more brilliantly than the Morning Star.


	8. Sky of Longing and Emptiness

Disclaimer and author's notes are in the first chapter.

This one is...not my usual fare.

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**Sky of longing and emptiness**

Dean couldn't remember the last time they saw another human being.

Maybe Topeka, the badly-burned man with wary eyes and a shotgun on them as they drove through.

Maybe the plague survivor wandering the ruins of Chicago, long gone mentally if not physically.

Six months ago? Ten?

There was no point in leaving payment for the gas, but they kept doing it anyway, maybe as an offering to keep the pumps partly-full.

Ruby said Lucifer would give Sam anything he wanted as a reward. The dumbass asked for the two of them to be left alone.

And now they are.


	9. Sky of Fullness

Disclaimer and author's notes are in the first chapter.

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**Sky of fullness**

Dean Winchester is _pissed_.

At the angels, for holding him under until he inevitably failed, for waiting until Sam was entrenched on the path of no return.

At Chuck for not warning them, at Castiel for waking up too damn late, at Ruby for—well, he's not surprised, just pissed.

He's so full of anger it's bleeding from him.

When the column of light solidifies into a corporeal shape, Dean hurls the knife at it, fueled with all of his hate and rage.

No one is more surprised than Lucifer when it sinks in and orange fire lights the room.


	10. Sky of Blessed Life

Disclaimer and author's notes are in the first chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing, and here's to Season Five!

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**Sky of blessed life**

The bright elation pulsing through Sam could be what everyone celebrating around him is feeling. Or it might just be him.

It's ironic that what caused their joy almost killed him.

If Bobby hadn't thought ahead and had a couple of pints of O positive ready for when Dean slew Lucifer (never doubting that he would), the flash of power that vaporized the world's demons and their blood would have meant Sam's end.

Instead, he's wobbly on his feet but feeling whole and _himself_ for the first time in twenty-six years—all darkness expunged from his veins and his soul.


End file.
